An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Essay -- essays research papers

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge?Ambrose Bierce weaves a tale of intrigue and captivation, by victimisation shifts of voice and time in the story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge?. In the first four paragraphs, Bierce begins the story using ordinal person, and in this point of view, he creates reality. We can view the situation and all aspects while it is written in threesome person we know precisely what is button on, we know it is real. Near the end of the fourth paragraph, the cause shifts cleverly from third person to limited omniscient. After having us view the story in third person, Bierce transfers from reality, to the main characters thought processes, having us view Peytons thoughts and dreams also as reality. "He looked a moment at his "unsteadfast footing," then let his gaze wander to the swirling water supply of the stream racing madly beneath his feet." (P.67) it is here where Bierce shifts and starts to mislead us, by using Peyton Farquhars thou ght processes as a filter. It is a clever shift, because in this moment, we atomic number 18 getting closer to the time of Farquhars death, and we have previously read reality. Time then slows down the explanation of the phenomenon, of Peyton Farquharss death, is both detailed and plausible, and there is a special trick "He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children"(P.67) It is in this sentence that Ambrose Bierce starts to evoke hope in the reader. The author knows th...